Brush



June 25, 1957 L. R. BRESSLER 2,796,620

7 I BRUSH Filed Jan. 17, 1955 A I N V EN TOR. fimzs'jzjzwz United StatesPatent BRUSH Louis R. Bressler, Southampton, lass.

Application January 17, 1955, Serial No. 482,094 2 Claims. (Cl. 15201)My inventionrelates to new and useful improvements in brushes and isdirected more particularly to brushes of the .type having relativelyflexible bristle-carrying sections. 7

It is the principal object of my'invention to provide a novel andimproved construction of thesaid type in which the brush has'a'bn'stle-supporting head portion which is flexible, whereby thebristles may conform to the contour of the head or other parts of thebody when the brush is in use, and which is distinctive in itsappearance, simple in its construction, and reliable in its operation.

Brushes have heretofore been made in which bristlesupporting heads haveincluded a plurality of bristlecarrying sections connected by means ofmetallic springs for relative flexing of the sections. Such brushes havenot been satisfactory and are objectionable for numerous reasons. Thereis a faulty bond between the metal spring and the plastic of the headsections and the metal is subject to corrosion as well as to fatigue.Furthermore, the metal sets so as to rupture with normal use and thetufts of bristles are not properly secured in the sections because thesecuring means, usually comprising staples, may not extend into theplastic material to the required depth. That is, the staples cannotextend through the metal spring which results in inadequate bristlesecurement.

According to my invention, a brush is provided which includesbristle-carrying sections flexibly connected together by relatively fiatand thin non-metallic spring-like members which are formed from aplastic material such as nylon or the like.

Such a construction overcomes the difficulties experienced with priorart brushes and has many advantages thereover in that the plastic springmembers are ade quately bonded or secured to the bristle sections, areresistant to corrosion, and have a much longer life than metallicsprings as they are capable of many times the flexing movements of metalsprings and the staples may impinge or extend through the nylon springthereby to secure the sections together.

A representative example of the invention is illustrated in theaccompanying drawings wherein:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of one form of the improved brush;

Fig. 2 is a sectional elevational view on the line 22 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a perspective View of one of the spring-like members of thebrush; and

Fig. 4 is a transverse sectional view through one of the bristlesections.

Referring now to the drawing more in detail'and refer ring moreparticularly to the preferred form of my invention, I have shown in Fig.l a brush which includes a handle member and a head or bristle portiongenerally indicated by 12.

The bristle portion 12 includes a plurality of elongated bristlesupporting sections 14, 16, 18, 20 and 22. These sections are spacedapart transversely as shown so as to be movable relative to each otheras will subsequently appear. It will be noted that the section 22 is, acontinuation'of and an integral part of the handle portion 10.

The handle member and the bristle supporting sections are preferablyformed from suitable plasticmaterial by an appropriate mouldingoperation.

From these various supporting sections extend tufts 26 of bristles whichmay be of any length or shape. The tufts are represented by dotted lines26 in Fig. 1.

The sockets or holes S for the tufts 26 are provided in the sections asby moulding or by drilling and may have any relative spacing andarrangement desired, the arrangement shown being merely for illustrativepurposes.

The tufts 26 of bristles 27 are secured in the sockets provided in thesections of the head portion by means of small wire staples of usualform 28 which engage intermediate portions of the bristles and aredriven or pressed into the plastic or other material at the bottoms ofthe sockets in a manner well known in the art.

As above stated the bristle sockets may be provided in a mouldingoperation or they may be formed by drilling into the bristle sections inthe usual manner.

Additionally, I provide spring-like resilient members 30. It will beunderstood that any number of such members may be provided, theinvention not being necessarily limited to the employment of a pair orany other number of such members.

Members 30 are generally elongated and flat and relatively thin and aredisposed in spaced parallelism longitudinally of the sections as shownin Fig. 1. These members are preferably made of nylon so as to beflexible and yieldable, yet resilient, for the purposes of theinvention.

During the moulding of the brush sections and handle, the preformedspring members 30 may be inserted into the mould and the brush sectionsand handle formed therearound, whereby the resulting product is aunitary brush including several flexibly connected separate elongatedsections instead of a single large section as in the case of ordinarybrushes. The separate sections are connected together by means of thespring members 30, whereby the separate sections may be freely flexedrelative to each other.

In some manufacturing procedures, sockets for the bristle tufts areprovided in the moulding operation. In others, sockets will be formed bythe drilling of same into the moulded sections.

The bristle sockets extend into the bristle sections and preferably theyextend not only in the bristle sections but into and through the springmembers 30 as Well. That is, preferably suitable apertures are providedboth in the bristle supporting sections and through or into the members30 also, whereby the tufts 26 may be inserted thereinto and held bymeans of the staples.

The bristle tufts being secured in the members 30 hold and connect thebristle section in spaced relation along the said members againstshifting and allow flexing of said members.

The members 30 are preformed as to dimensions for inserting in the mouldfor the moulding operation. They may be provided with holes or aperturesto coincide with the sockets to be drilled in the sections for thebristle tufts. Or when moulded in the sections the members 30 andsections may be drilled for the bristle tufts, all to the end that thebristle tufts may be stapled in the sockets.

As one feature of the invention adjacent sides of adjacent bristlesections relatively diverge upwardly and downwardly from pointsintermediate upper and lower sides of the bristle sections as shown inFig. 2. In this way the elongated slots or spaces between adjacentbristle sections are relatively narrow and yet the sections may flexrelative to one another. Hair and the like is not likely to be caught innarrow spaces as would be the case with wide spaces. So long as thesides of the sections are diverging the spaces between the sections atthe point of flexing of the members 30 maybe very narrow and yet thesections are relatively flexible.

Nylon has been mentioned as suitable for the spring members, due to itsstrength and flexibility with resiliency but any other nonmetallicplastic material having the desired characteristics will be adequate.That is, plastic material adapted to withstand repeated flexing withoutfatigue and rupture.

V The invention maybe embodied in other specific forms without departingfrom the 'essential characteristics thereof. Hence, the presentembodiments are therefore to be considered in all respects merely asbeing illustrative and not asflbeing restrictive, the scope of theinvention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by theforegoing description and all modifications and variations as fallwithin the meaning and purview and range of equivalency of the appendedclaims are therefore intended to be embraced therein.

What it is desired to claim and secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates is:

1. Brush construction of the type having a transversely flexibleelongated bristle head comprising in combination, a handle having anelongated relatively narrow central bristle section extending from anend thereof and other relatively narrow elongated side bristle sectionsat opposite longitudinal sides of said central section, means flexiblyconnecting said sections in longitudinal parallel nonseparable relation,adjacent longitudinal side faces of adjacent sections being out ofcontact and in slightly spaced relation for relative flexing of saidsections transversely of said head, said connecting means includingseparate elongated relatively thin and flat flexible resilient membersembedded in said sections intermediate upper and lower faces thereof anddisposed transversely in spaced relationship longitudinally of saidsections, tufts of bristles having inner ends stapled in said sectionswith bristles thereof extending outwardly from lower sides of saidsections.

2. Brush construction set forth in claim 1 wherein the slightly spacedadjacent side faces of adjacent bristle sec tions relatively divergeupwardly and downwardly from said resilient members.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 52,833Eagle Feb. 27, 1866 805,431 Fetters N0v.'2l, 1905 1,110,406 Schreck-Sept. 15, 1914 7 1,928,328 Carpentier Sept. 26, 1933 2,676,350 BresslerApr. 27, 1954 FOREIGN PATENTS 4,624 Great Britain 'Mar. 6, 1905

